The Buddhist Path to Enlightenment (study)
by Dr Kala Acharya | 2016 | 118,883 words
This page relates ‘Psychic Power of Investigation (Vimamsiddhipada or Mimamsa)’ of the study on the Buddhist path to enlightenment. The Buddha was born in the Lumbini grove near the present-day border of India and Nepal in the 6th century B.C. He had achieved enlightenment at the age of thirty–five under the ‘Bodhi-tree’ at Buddha-Gaya. This study investigates the teachings after his Enlightenment which the Buddha decided to teach ‘out of compassion for beings’.
3.2.4. Psychic Power of Investigation (Vimaṃsiddhipāda or Mimāṃsā)
[Full title: The Fourfold Psychic Power (cattāro iddhipāda)—(4): The Psychic Power of Investigation (Vimaṃsiddhipāda or Mimāṃsā)]
The Vīmaṃsiddhipāda is explained in the Chanda sutta under the following:
“Bhikkhus, if a monk gains concentration, gains one-pointedness of mind, relying on investigation (vīmaṃsā), this is called concentration due to investigation (vīmaṃsā-samādhi).
He brings for the desire for the non-arising of unarisen evil unwholesome states. He makes an effort, rouses energy, applies his mind and strives;
he brings for the desire for the abandoning of arisen evil unwholesome states. He makes an effort, rouses energy, applies his mind and strives;
he brings for the desire for the arising of unarisen wholesome states. He makes an effort, rouses energy, applies his mind and strives;
he brings for the desire for the maintaining of arisen wholesome states. He makes an effort, rouses energy, applies his mind and strives—there are called the forces of exertion (padhānasaṅkhāra).
Thus, there are this desire and the concentration due to desire and these forces of exertion—this, bhikkhu, is called the psychic powers accomplished in concentration due to the desire and these forces of exertion (these forces and abandoning).[1]
Vimaṃsā (investigation) means: knowledge or wisdom that can clearly perceive the greatness of the sufferings of hell, and of the sufferings attendant on the round of rebirths. It is knowledge that can clearly perceive the advantages and benefits of the iddhis. It is knowledge that can dwell on the deep and difficult dhammas, and on their nature. A person who possesses such knowledge can no longer find pleasure in any worldly pursuit except the pursuit of the iddhis. He finds gratification only in the acquisition of deep and profound iddhis. The deeper and more profound the dhammas, the greater is his desire to attain them.
Those who are endowed with any one of these four bases of success (iddhipāda) can no longer, during this life, admit or plead inability and remain without putting forth effort in the establishment of body contemplation (kāyagatāsati) and the higher stages of the Sāsana such as the seven purifications (visuddhi). It is only those who have never possessed any one of these bases of success, and who cannot differentiate between the shallowness and profoundness of life, between superficiality and depth of the dhamma, who admit or plead inability and remain without making any endeavour.
A person endowed with any one of these four iddhipādas can attain, according to his pāramī, the iddhis until he reaches lokuttara (supramundane) iddhi, either in this life or as a deva in the next life. The cases of those endowed with two, or three, or four iddhipādas need no lengthy explanation.
In the cases of those persons who (far from possessing any of the iddhis) do not even possess any of the iddhipādas, they should attempt to acquire one or other of these bases. They admit or plead inability only because they have not the desire to acquire the higher benefits of the Sāsana, such as the satipaṭṭhānas. They should regard this very admission of inability as a highway to the lower worlds of misery (āpayaloka). Thus, they should study, think and ponder over the discourses (Suttas) that can arouse zeal. They should approach a teacher who can arouse zeal and rely on him.
Hence did the Buddha say:
Chandiddhipādaṃ bhāveti, viriyiddhipādaṃ bhāveti,
Cittiddhipādaṃ bhāveti, vimaṃsiddhipādaṃ bhāveti.He cultivates zeal, energy, consciousness and investigation as the bases of success.
Some persons, far from attaining the iddhis, do not even try to attain the iddhipādas. If they do not possess chanda, they do not even know that it is necessary to acquire such zeal. They are persons who admit and plead inability and defeat. The same is true in the cases of viriya, citta, and vimaṃsa.
Steady application of the mind to kāyagatāsati, studying the anecdotes conveying a sense of urgency (saṃvega),[2] applying oneself to the strict ascetic observances (dhutaṅga) and such other practices of the Dhamma, is setting up of energy (viriya). Applying oneself to profound subjects of Dhamma, such as the four great primaries, amounts to the setting up of vīmaṃsa (investigation).
If any one of the four bases of success is established, then it is certain that the respective iddhis will be attained according to one’s pārami. Hence, it is stated in the commentaries that persons who do not possess any of the bases of success, resemble the sons of a caṇḍāla (an outcaste), while persons possessing one of the bases of success resemble the sons of an emperor. The sons of a caṇḍāla never even aim at becoming an emperor because they have no basis, no pāda, for such an attainment. Sons of emperors, however, always aim at becoming emperors because they are endowed with the bases for attaining such an aim.
Hence, wise persons of the present day should attempt to acquire the four iddhipādas, the bases of success, so that they can destroy the great realm of personality belief and acquire, within the sāsana, the benefits of the higher attainments that can be obtained according to one’s pāramis.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
SN 51.13/V: p. 268